


a beauty grows unplanned

by mothicalcreatures



Series: together we are found [2]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gift Giving, Hanukkah, Judaism, M/M, Period Typical Language re: Judaism, Religion, Shabbat | Sabbath | Sabt, Tenderness, The Terror Bingo 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27585232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothicalcreatures/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: It had been distraction and a need to get as far away from the Admiralty as possible after his meeting there that had led James on his meandering walk, which had ultimately deposited him in the heart of London’s Jewish quarter. Then curiosity had led him into one of the shops and the next thing he knew he had made two extremely impulsive purchases for Solomon.--Or, local goy James Fitzjames wanders into a shop selling Judaica, makes impulse purchase for Jewish boyfriend.
Relationships: Commander James Fitzjames/Sgt Solomon Tozer
Series: together we are found [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2015398
Comments: 10
Kudos: 10
Collections: The Terror Bingo (2020)





	a beauty grows unplanned

**Author's Note:**

> For the Terror Bingo prompt "Go for Broke"
> 
> The soundtrack for this fic is basically all of ["Beneath the Open Sky" by Nefesh Mountain,](https://open.spotify.com/album/4ypLDUXO8I23bYsWQ46fQ7) but particularly the tracks ["I Want to Hear Somebody Pray"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnfsYqiXdo) and ["The Narrow Bridge,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1yso2ceKNI) where the title is from. 
> 
> Thank you to @teapig and @slantedwonders for betaing this!

James kicked the snow off his boots as he crossed the threshold of the house he shared with Solomon. An odd choice to some, perhaps—he had been asked by others why he would hire Solomon, who hadn’t even served on James’ own ship, to care for the house over someone like John Bridgens, who was an exemplary officers’ steward, not a retired Marine sergeant—but James always had a good reason. He needed someone who could maintenance his home, which James would have done himself, but for his newfound infirmities; for all Solomon had been injured as well, he was a good deal more able than James when it came to hard labor. Besides, Bridgens was the newfound co-owner of his own little bookshop alongside Henry Peglar, and James could hardly ask him to give that up, now could he?

“Sol?” James called into the house. He set down the parcels he was carrying on the front hall table and leaned his cane up carefully against it before sinking heavily into the neighboring chair to tug off his boots. His leg ached something fierce, though it was his own damn fault, he’d spent a good two hours wandering about London as he bided his time for the train that would take him home to Solomon.

It had been distraction and a need to get as far away from the Admiralty as possible after his meeting there that had led James on his meandering walk, which had ultimately deposited him in the heart of London’s Jewish quarter. Then curiosity had led him into one of the shops and the next thing he knew he had made two extremely impulsive purchases for Solomon, purchases James wasn’t even sure Solomon would accept.

James knew very little about Judaism and Jewish life, save common perception, which, as he had learned of the Inuit, was extremely biased by the dominant line of thought, and what little Solomon had told him of his experiences as a child. Still, the shopkeep had been tolerant of James’ fumbling explanation that he was trying to help a friend who had lost most of their worldly possessions. It wasn’t entirely a lie, they’d carried so little with them by the time rescue arrived, only the smallest of personal trinkets survived. If Solomon had ever had things like this, he didn’t anymore.

Further compounding this was that James did not rightly know if Solomon even considered himself a Jew. From what Solomon had told him, his family had converted, at least on the surface, to Christianity some time before he was born, but his mother had kept up the practice, as had Solomon until he’d left home. He hadn’t told all this to the shopkeep, but he had fretted openly about not wanting to overstep when it came to giving a gift and the man had kindly directed James to what he deemed “the most appropriate for the circumstances,” which had apparently meant candlesticks and an unreasonable number of candles. He had left the shop some minutes later with the two parcels that were now sitting on the table next to him as innocent as anything in their brown paper wrapping, as if the contents hadn’t been causing him anxiety since he’d purchased them.

James shrugged off his coat before grabbing his cane again to lever himself to his feet. There was no sound of footsteps coming, so either Solomon hadn’t heard him or he was out. Gathering up the two parcels under one arm, James carefully hobbled his way into the sitting room, where he promptly collapsed onto the sofa. The fire was lit and going strong, so perhaps Solomon wasn’t too far after all. He could be out in his workshop, he’d been squirreling himself away there more often of late. After some encouragement from James, Solomon had finally begun taking commissions to a fair amount of success and, with the first of December only a scant two days away, he’d been working overtime to complete orders in time for the holidays. 

James had fallen into a light doze when the sound of a clatter from the front hall woke him.

“Solomon?” He called, his voice raspy from sleep.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps then and Solomon appeared in the doorway, brow furrowed. “Are you all right?”

“What? Oh, yes.” James pulled himself into a more upright sitting position on the sofa, moving the packages to his side so they wouldn’t fall. He cleared his throat. “I fell asleep. It was a long day and I overexerted myself.”

Solomon sagged in clear relief. “You sounded horrible, I thought you’d fallen or something.”

“No, no, I’m perfectly all right,” James said, then grimaced as he shifted his leg in such a way that sent pain shooting up his spine. “Well, perhaps not perfectly. I went for a walk after my meeting at the Admiralty, which I am half regretting now.”

“Only half?” Solomon teased, making his way further into the room. The way he was holding his bad arm made James suspect that he may not have been the only one who’d overexerted himself today.

“If I hadn’t gone for a walk, I never would have gotten these,” James said, now drawing attention to the two parcels. He picked one up and held it out to Solomon. His stomach had turned itself to knots again, but he’d come too far to turn back, and if he didn’t give them to Solomon now he’d lose his nerve and they’d wind up gathering dust in a trunk.

Solomon raised an eyebrow. “Too impatient to wait for Christmas?”

“I…” James swallowed; he could feel himself starting to flush. “I rather don’t think they’d be appropriate for Christmas.”

That seemed to pique Solomon’s curiosity and he took the package from James, before coming around to join him on the sofa to open it.

The first thing to be revealed as Solomon pulled back the paper wasa bundle of thin candles held together with twine, and Solomon looked over to James curiously.

“There’s more,” James said. He forced his hands still as Solomon set the candles aside and opened the paper further.

Solomon let out a long shaky breath when the contents were fully revealed, a small set of silver candlesticks, simple, yet quite beautifully crafted with a stamped Star of David pattern on the base and capital. “James, I…” He took another breath. “Where did you get these?”

“A shop in the East End,” James said. “I couldn’t tell you the name, but I’d know it if I saw it again. I was… well, rather distracted.” Distracted because of the Admiralty, distracted by the thought that he might be able to get something for Solomon, distracted by the fact that he didn’t know a bit about what he was doing or looking for.

Solomon picked up one of the candlesticks to examine it more closely. “And what possessed you to go inside?”

James was pleased to note that Solomon sounded more baffled than upset. “Curiosity, in part,” James admitted. “I hope I didn’t overstep.”

“That’s going to depend on what’s in that second package,” Solomon said, finally turning to look at James.

It could have been the firelight playing tricks, but Solomon’s eyes seemed awfully wet to James. Still, he made no comment on it as he passed over the second, larger, parcel. “It’s more of the same, or well… similar at any rate.”

Inside were even more candles, and a candelabra, more elaborate than the candlesticks, but still fairly simple in design. There had been some truly stunning and intricately designed ones at the shop, but James had looked for things that reminded him of the sort of woodwork that most pleased Solomon to do. Things that were elegant, but sturdy and, most importantly, functional. He had mentioned this to the shopkeep when he was trying to explain the sort of things his ‘friend’ would like, but the man had told him that the beauty was part of the function with items like these and James had been so out of his depth he’d just accepted it with a nod.

“How much did these cost, James?” Solomon asked.

“Nothing I couldn’t afford,” James replied, then he flushed. “In truth I rather wasn’t paying attention to the price,” he admitted. “I made quite a fool of myself in front of the man who ran the place and by the time it came to actually paying for everything I was so flustered I didn’t even remember the receipt until I was halfway to the train station.”

Solomon snorted. “You can’t have made that much of a fool of your self or I doubt you’d have managed to make a purchase at all.”

“I made a very earnest fool,” James said and Solomon barked out a laugh. “I think the man rather took pity on me.”

Solomon shook his head. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

The anxious knot in James’ stomach clenched. “If you would rather me return them…”

“No, no… I…” Solomon cleared his throat. “It’s just a lot to take in. You certainly don’t do anything by halves, do you?”

“Once I’d had the thought that I might be able to get you something that could be important to you, I couldn’t get it out of my head, even if I wasn’t sure it would be welcome,” James said softly.

Solomon ran a thumb down the stem of the candelabra. “It’s not _un_ welcome, but it is overwhelming. It’s been so long since anything Jewish has been a regular part of my life. My mother would be pleased, at least, that I now have my own candlesticks and menorah.”

“I… might I ask what they’re for? All I was told that they would be timely gifts.”

“Oh…” Solomon frowned, and James worried he’d made some mistake, but then Solomon continued. “I suppose they would be… the candlesticks are for well, any candle lighting and the sabbath, the _Jewish_ sabbath, starts tonight. The menorah… well, winter’s well here, I suppose Hanukkah will be starting before long, you light candles for eight nights for-”

Solomon lifted the menorah from the paper and was distracted when a slip of paper tumbled out of the packaging.

James bent to pick it up. There was writing on it, but not writing James could read.

“What’s that?”

James shook his head and passed the paper to Solomon.

“It’s Hebrew, it says…” Solomon trailed off, scowling at the paper. “Something. I know the letters, but…” He huffed. “I _think_ it’s a holiday greeting, but there’s…” Solomon chewed on his lip as he trailed off again.

James sat quietly as Solomon continued frowning his way through the note and muttering under his breath in both English and Hebrew. Eventually, he set the note down and sighed. “I was right about the first part. I think. If I’m right it’s… it’s wishing me a happy first night of Hanukkah.”

“Tonight?” James had thought from Solomon’s earlier explanation that it would be later.

“Yeah, it…” Solomon shook his head. “The Jewish calendar doesn’t line up with the standard one, makes the holidays fall differently every year. Easy to lose track of if you don’t live your life by it, and the Royal Marines provided my calendar for years.”

James nodded. “I see.” He had no idea what to say, what to ask, but maybe he didn’t really need to.

A few more moments of silence passed between them before Solomon sighed again. “I can’t make out the rest of it. I think it might say something about you… one of the words could be friend, but who knows. I’ll send it to my mum, ask her what it says.”

“You mentioned that… that Hanukkah goes for eight days,” James began. “Would you want to invite your mother to stay with us?”

“I don’t think there’s the time for it,” Solomon said, shaking his head. “By the time she gets my letter it’d be at least halfway through, but there’s always next year, and plenty of holidays in between.”

He suddenly looked sheepish and turned to James. “Of course I wouldn’t want to presume.”

“Presume all you want,” James said, reaching to take Solomon’s hand. “I might be wholly ignorant of Jewish custom, but I love you and if this is important to you I’ll do my best to learn.”

Solomon let out a long breath, sagging as the tension left his body, and with that James felt his worries ease too.

James tugged Solomon closer and he went without resistance, shuffling over until he was pressed up against James side. “This is your home too. I had hoped we might be equals here.”

There were several beats of silence before Solomon spoke again. “I know, but I think that’s easier said than done.”

James opened his mouth to apologize, but Solomon stopped him with a shake of his head. “You’ve never done anything intentionally, but we’ve lived very different lives. Take these for example,” he gestured to the candlesticks and the menorah. “I would have had to save up for months, at least, to be able to buy something like that, but you were able to buy them on a whim.”

“I wouldn’t have always been able to,” James said, “But you are right; I have rather more money at my disposal now.” 

Solomon was quiet for a moment before he continued. “I s’pose there’s been part of me that was waiting for the other shoe to drop; that you’d eventually find a better match and I’d have to leave… and then you go and do this.”

There was a hitch in Solomon’s breath and James squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry. I should have spoken to you first.”

But Solomon shook his head. “Don’t apologize. I’m relieved not upset. It’s just a bit hard to wrap my head around, is all.”

“I wouldn’t be so cruel as to string you along like that,” James murmured. “Believe me when I say that the only future I’m looking for is one with you in it.”

Solomon smiled wetly. “Good, cause I want that too.”

Later once the candles were lit—the Hanukkah candles first, Solomon had explained, since it was prohibited to light fires on the sabbath, they lay back on the sofa together, watching the candles flicker on the hearth above the fireplace with Solomon settled against James’ chest. The curtains were drawn and James had his arms wrapped around Solomon.

“Thank you for this,” Solomon said, nestling back against James a little further. “Don’t think I managed to get that out earlier, but I mean it.”

James pressed a kiss to Solomon’s temple. “You’re welcome. I’m just glad you like them. I spent the whole train ride home agonizing over whether I’d done the right thing by getting them.” 

“Next time I’d like to be there so I can have some input,” Solomon teased. “But you made good choices with nothing to go on.”

James laughed, feeling a swell of happiness. “I’ll get you whatever you want.”

Solomon craned his head back to look at James. “And maybe let me pay for it sometimes?” 

“Maybe,” James said, grinning down at Solomon. “I have to do something with all this money I’ve got, don’t I? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t use it to get you nice things.”

“There’s a particular pride in saving up to buy something for yourself, ‘specially something nice,” Solomon replied. “And I have been, saving up I mean. I’d been thinking about getting some candlesticks actually.” He shifted to rest his cheek against James’ shoulder. “I’ve got more privacy here than I’ve had in… well probably my whole life, but not being in Marine barracks or on a ship I could have them without worrying about having to hide them. Thought I’d maybe set them up in my room, didn’t know how I was gonna bring it up to you.”

James hummed quietly, rubbing circles on Solomon’s wrist with his thumb. “I’m sorry I took that away from you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Solomon said, smiling lightly as he shook his head. “There’s plenty more than just candlesticks.”

“Yeah?” James murmured.

“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. There's no 100% evidence that irl Solomon Tozer was Jewish, but there are _a lot_ of Hebrew names in his family, as brought to my attention by @radiojamming. Even beyond the slew of men named Solomon, Moses and Abraham, we have women named Rivkah, the Hebrew version of Rebecca, and Zillah, a Hebrew name that has no anglicized equivalent I'm aware of. And there is a history of Jewish people either being forced to convert or converting for their safety. We have baptism records for Tozer and his dad, so while Tozer himself may not have been raised Jewish there's enough to make me think he may have come from a Jewish family, which is pretty interesting. 
> 
> 2\. The East End of London was noted as a heavily Jewish part of London in the 1800s. I don't know terribly much about it, but it was [firmly established](https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/london/jewish.shtml) and [rapidly growing by the 1880s.](https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/britain-nineteenth-and-twentieth-centuries)
> 
> 3\. Hanukkah in 1850/5611 began on Friday November 29th, meaning that Hanukkah started on Shabbat that year! 
> 
> 4\. Jewish holidays don't actually fall on different days of the year on the Jewish calendar, but as Tozer mentions the Jewish calendar and the secular calendar don't line up, which makes them occur during different times on the secular calendar.


End file.
